gtown

I forgot about these snaps from our chilly stroll through Gtown right after Thanksgiving…  Keaton was thinking very hard about those Baked and Wired cupcakes.  Aiden was itching to get out on that ice rink, but we had a nice dinner overlooking it instead.

cousins

We had such a nice visit from my cousin Pete. The boys were so excited to pick him up from the metro after his conference, so they could come home to read the best book he brought them - The Book With No Pictures by that guy from the office and short story author BJ Novak.  They all made each other giggle so much!  They played lotsa rounds of try to nab the pumpkin.  Aiden even made Pete his own foil guy - a cousin to Mr. Tinny Crumples.  Keaton loved flying through the air especially as Santa.  We even took him to visit our reindeer topiary friends at Mosaic.

better soon

Someone has to hang up his Santa hat for a bit, but big brother left his favorite teddy to help him feel better...

This was my first clue - asleep on the floor in the middle of the day:

hat

This goof on Mondays when I tell him it's time to get ready for school:

tiny tots show

What a fun morning we had at the Tiny Tots show at our local high school.  They introduced all of the orchestra instruments along with songs from all these fun characters.  Keaton was beyond jazzed...  His favorite was the funny banana that chased the clown during the circus song.  Close seconds were the Happy Song Minions and the Chicken Dance…  Can't forget getting a high five from all the guys at the end… and being so excited that his santa hat matched with Santa's.

falls visitor

More pics from Great Falls inside the Visitor Center.  The boys loved watching the real kayakers down in the water, so it was a treat to get to sit in one.

great falls

After our botched tree hunt, we took a quick jaunt over to the Great Falls.  I think it was the first time Keaton remembers seeing them, and he seemed pretty jazzed.  Aiden was a master climber this time traversing along any rock formation he could find… (those boots since have literally split open from all the fancy climbing moves and running around on the playground at school.)

tree tag

Our tree hunting day became milder and milder… and when we finally found our not too tall, not too pokey, very nice smelling tree it was nearly tshirt weather.  The boys played tag in the line of trees.  The guys loaded our tree into the delivery truck and it took the quick ride home to our house.

tree farming

Well, we had our own Griswold Family moment at the Christmas treat farm.  It was sorta comical and sad all at the same time.  We thought we had the perfect tree farm spot, not too far away on a perfect mild day… But it was too good to be true.

Good news: No one fell off the giant sleigh.  

Bad News: All trees where either over 10 feet tall or under 4 feet.

Good news: We were all amused by Aiden's hat choice.

Bad news: Keaton wasn't at all amused, especially when J tried to pretend we were taking home one of the many invasive weeds.

Good news: It was still picturesque and we had a little walk around the farm… 

Bad news : No official timber this year, but  we still got a tree at the cut stand down the street from our house and they delivered ;)

first

This little goof loves his Santa gear.  

We kicked off this month with one more tooth down for Aiden.  He lost it at school  and the clinic gave him a treasure chest which he looooves!  I swear they had similar adorable plastic chests when I was a kid.  The tooth fairy brought him $2 for tooth number two.  He also got to write his name on the classroom tooth chart.

merry mosaic

The tree lighting and singalong at Mosaic was on a pretty nice night.  The big screen was playing the videos with the bouncing snowflake to singalong. You could even walk through the center of the big tree this year and see all sorts of lights inside.  The reindeers were out to greet the crowd.  Santa didn't have any line so we said hi in the lobby!

o mansion

Where do I start on this unique place?!  I'd heard about it from a kid friendly blog otherwise I might not have known how welcome kids are.  It's three connected row houses that were built in the 1890s by the architect of the Capitol Building for his family. It's essentially a feast of architecture, art, and memorabilia.  There are vintage and signed guitars everywhere which was a big draw for J.  Everything (including fixtures) is for sale in the mansion, so you can buy some of the kitsch if you want.  The big bonus for our little detectives is that there are 32 secret doors in the over 100 room mansion!  They are hidden all over the place and we only managed to find 12 - The docent told us that people usually only find about 7 secret doors.  There is a room dedicated to John Lennon with his photo projected on the bathroom rug.  There is a room that Rosa Parks lived in for a few years when she lived in DC.  There is  something elegant, yet unrefined about the whole lovable place tucked over on O Street.

Mansion Tour from LB on Vimeo.

cookies

We made some gingerbread cookies with some schnazzy cookie cutters.

santa letters

The boys wrote some Santa letters and read some holiday books at the botanical garden.  Aiden's list included Ultra Agent legos, Gran moves to VA, Pop moves to VA, Imaginext, and ThinkFun… pretty good list ;)

turkey day

I can't quite figure out how many turkeys I've made for the holiday, but the Michael Symon cheesecloth covered method did the job this year.  I think the skin was extra crispy.  I stuck with some other healthy recipes like sweet potato wedges with only 2 tablespoons of brown sugar for 4 pounds of potato!  And I did the same balsamic glaze carrots and brussel sprouts from last year.  Top it off with some cranberry relish, salad with apple and pumpkin croutons, cornbread stuffing and mashed potatoes and the Thanksgiving menu is complete.  The cousins play so well together and they were really ready for some dessert - pumpkin ice cream with pumpkin caramel, brownies, and pecan pie.  Thanks to Jess and Matt for those last two treats!

turkey trot

The Turkey Trot through our neighborhood was on again this year.  My turkeys were all gung-ho with some fun signs, and then when Aiden got out there he turned into a teenager that was embarrassed by our cheering…he shed his fun hat pretty quickly and was hiding when he saw kids his age from the Raccoon Runners breezing past.  Man, seven going on seventeen...and Keaton warmed up to the idea of being out in the cold and didn't want it to end when the last runners made it past us.

lights

Meadow lark Botanical Garden was host to even more sparkly lights this year.  We caught it on a gorgeous nearly 60 degree evening right before Thanksgiving.  I was so glad that Gran and Pop were here to enjoy it with us!

tidbits

So grateful that my folks made it here to enjoy this week of thankfulness…  Towards the beginning of the month, my mom had been in the hospital for five days, so she is a real trouper.  Thankful for good health around here!  We took a weekday trek to Ikea for some meatballs and a surprisingly good pumpkin cupcake!  There were tons of hand turkeys created in the TPF - Turkey Processing Factory - which looks a lot like GranGran and PopPop's room.

We enjoyed the elementary school's performance of Wizard of Oz - see the Great and Powerful Oz head on the left and the Emerald City on the right. 

Keaton and I were thrilled to enjoy a thanksgiving feast at this smiley guy's school earlier in the week.  They had this pumpkin ice cream which was a real treat.  Keaton could not get over that he was in the big kid cafeteria.  

turkey interviews

Happy Thanksgiving! So thankful for these turkeys:

Turkey 1 from LB on Vimeo.

Turkey 2 from LB on Vimeo.

school cool

Time for some turkey gluing on pre painted stuff on picture day when everyone was dressed up.

This potato turkey is so fun and everyone poked in a different number of toothpicks in different patterns.

This three person teeter totter alligator is a long standing favorite.

Painting and reading are big favorites.  The Don't Push the Button book is a huge hit with all the kids crowding around to read it together.

Making different kinds of slime with cornstarch and other fun stuff...